Box tuck and method of making same



April 4, 1961 M. MADDEN BOX TUCK AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Flled Jan 24, 1958 10 F j fio -*-|'1 D. R Q .m W @Z m 4 T W- 6 wfm mm F i W v n 5 L S M A M/w v 3 w 4 6 .1 m 1 w J .m $68 2 L '10 l a Tm i m. 4 MN m. m m

United States Patent BOX TUCK AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Max Madden, Tailored Pleating and Stitching, 347 W. 39th St., New York, N.Y.

Filed Jan. 24, 1958, Ser. No; 711,000

4 Claims. (Cl. 112-262) retained and held in folded position.

In the mass production of clothing, it is conventional to make a box pleat by first forming the four folds in the goods without stitching them to complete the pleat, then to steam the folds into the goods, then to open the folds, and finally to'sew the'two adjacent folds of the pleat to one another by placing the same between the pressure foot and the feed plate of a sewing machine, thus forming the box tuck. It will be apparent that in the stitching operation only one of the two adjacent folds through which this stitching must pass, can be seen by the operator, this being the then exposed adjacen fold contacted by the pressure foot. The other adjacent fold is concealed beneath the exposed adjacent fold. The operator attempts to insure accurate stitching through the two adjacent folds by so using her visual and manual skills as to maintain one of the spaced folds midway between the exposed adjacent fold, through which the stitching is taking place, and the center of the concealed panel of the box tuck.

The foregoing method has several drawbacks. One serious difficulty is that a seamstress working under the high pressure of mass production is unable to exactly determine when the adjacent fold that is supposed to be centrally disposed deviates slightly to the right 'or to the left. Any error she makes in positioning is doubled in erroneous positioning of the underlying adjacent fold so that all too often the stitching is quite inaccurate and it is necessary to reject the garment. The rejections, however, are only part of the problem. Offending garments where the deviation is apparent can be caught, but where the'deviation is not noticeable, it nevertheless dis: turbs thefit and hang of the garment and makes the consumer dissatisfied. In other words, making a box tuck in anything but an expensive garment where the tuck is handsewn creates an incipient danger for the manufacturer.

Another difficulty is that where the goods is rough or heavy it is even more difficult for the seamstress to properly maintain an exact central position for the supposedlycentral adjacent fold since the creasing which has been preset into the goods cannot then be easily seen and is notacute enough to be exactly located.

Another difficulty with the aforesaid type of box tucking is that even if the stitching were perfectly located, it is quite tight and draws the adjaceu folds together so strongly that when eventually the box tuck is arrayed in proper shape after stitching, there is a tendency'for the goods to pucker along the line of stitching and so spoil the appearance and drapeof the garment.-

Still another difliculty of conventionally mass-produced box tucks lies in the inherent maladjustment of stresses imposed onthe fabric during the stitching above described. It will be recalled that during the stitching, the material in which the exposed adjacent fold is formed is engaged by the pressure foot and the material in which the hidden adjacent fold is formed is engaged by the feed dog of the sewing machine. Quite frequently, the material being stitched is sheer or slippery so that the hidden fold creeps relative to the exposed fold and, as a result, after the stitching, the material on one side of the pleat will extend slightly. higher than the material onthe other side and this, too, spoils the fit of the garment,

as well as the appearance. Distortion invarying degrees is the result.

Still a'further difliculty is encountered in connection with tapered box tucks, these being tucks in which there is a progressive change in width along the length of the tucks. The handling of the material during the stitching of such tucks requires very great skill on the part of an operator and, indeed, at the present time, there are very few or no operators who have the requisite manual ability and skill' to satisfactorily produce a tapered box tuck. Accordingly, atpresent, the manufacture of mass-produced garments with tapered box tucks has for all practical purposes become extinct. It is an object of my invention to provide a box tuck and method of making the same which overcomes all of the foregoing difficulties.

More particularly, it is an object of my invention to provide a method of making a box tuck which is such as to lend itself to practice by semi-skilled or even green labor;

It is another object of my invention to provide a box tuck and method of making the same which is such that exact correct stitching of the tuck is practically automatic, the accuracy being caused by the method of stitching rather than the skill of the seamstress.

It is another object of my invention to provide a metl1- 0d of making a box tuck which can be performed just as easily and accurately in the fabrication of a tapered as a straight tuck.

It is another object of my invention to provide a box tuck which not only does not disturb the hang and fit of a garment but actually improves them.

It is another object of my invention to provide a box tuck in which the stitching always exactly lies on the two adjacent fold lines, in which the fold lines never are puckered and in which the alignment of the fold lines never is disturbed during the stitching.

It is another object of my invention to provide a box tuck and method of making the same which can be effected on conventional sewing machinery and therefore entail no additional expense.

' It is another object of my invention to make a box ous possible embodiments of my invention,

Fig. 1 is. a rear perspective of an over-edge sewing machine in the process of making a box tuck in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front, slightly angled view of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Patented Apr. 4, 1961 Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the stitching applied by the machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the fabric to which the stitching is applied being shown skeletonized by dot and dash lines;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse. sectional view through the box pleat after presetting, as by steaming but before stitching;

Figs. 6 and 7 are enlarged sectional views taken substantially along the lines 6-6 and 77, respectively, of Fig. 3, the same illustrating the material before and after stitching;

Fig.8 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the box tuck after stitching;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary rear view of a straight box tuck; and

'Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 of a tapered box tuck.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 20 denotes a machine which I use for stitching together in a novel fashion according to my invention, the two adjacent folds of a box pleat. Said machine is'of the type. which will make a so-called over-edge stitch and is characterized by the presence of two critical physical features which are essential to the achievement of my invention. More particularly, the machine should be one wherein, firstly, the fabric feed is accomplished through the medium of a pair of coplanar tangential knurled circular discs, and, secondly, the stitching includes reaches of thread which are located at two levels,

one a level at which a penetrating thread pierces the material being sewn and, two, a level above the first level and :at which at least one whipping thread crosses over the material being sewn.

Various machines characterized by the above features,

machines are capable of effecting will function satisfac-,

torily in the practice of my invention. However, I prefer to use a stitch of the 504 or 505 stitch type, these being United States Standard Stitch Type numbers specified by the United States Government. are three thread stitches.

The machine 20 which has been illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is a Singer 242-1, a three-thread over-edge stitch hosiery seamer. Said machine includes a cantilever arm 22from which a rotary shaft 24 depends. As is conventional, the shaft is shiftable under the control of the operator toward and away from the body 26 of the machine in order to allow the material to be stitched to be inserted in position. At its lower end said shaft has secured an outer circular feeding disc 28, the periphery of which is knurled for engagement with the material to be stitched. The machine furtherincludes an inner fixed (i.e., non-shiftable) knurled circular rotary disc 30 coplanar with the disc 28 and tangentially engageable therewith. In the operation of the machine both of the feeding discs are rotated at the same speed by suitable drives such as are very well-known in the art. The machine additionally includes the usual horizontal needle 32 and loopers 34 as well as a spreader 36, these likewisebeing conventional.

In carrying out my invention, 1 first provide apiece of material 38 (see Fig. 5) which-I arrange to form;

Both of these stitches '4 spaced" folds 44, 46'that face away from one another. Between and joining the two spaced folds is the central hidden panel 48 of the box pleat. Intermediate panels 49 join the spaced folds to the adjacent folds. With the material 38 so arranged, I preset all the folds by either of the following methods: (1) Placing the material between two sheets of preformed paper (pleating pattern) and placing the pattern with the material into a steam vessel; (2 feeding the material into a machine known as a pleating machine. This process makes use of two layers of tissue pleating paper in helping to form a box pleat which then with the pleating paper is placed into a steam vessel for setting. Alternatively, this method may employ steam, electric or gas heated rollers.

The preset folds may either be those associated with a straight box pleat 50 such as shown in Fig. 9, or those associated with a tapered box pleat 52 such as shown in Fig. 10, the only difference being that in the straight box pleat the spacing between the folds 44, 46 is maintained constant while in a tapered box pleat the spacing between the folds 44, 46 progressively varies. I

After the preliminary pleating operation, I rearrange the material 38 so that the adjacent folds 40, 42 instead of facing, one another as they did when pleated, lie alongside of one another, that is to say, are juxtaposed, and face in the same direction, i.e., the intermediate panels are parallel to and touch one another. At the same time I pull the material of the hidden panel 48 away from the adjacent folds 40, 42. With the material so arranged I guide it between the feeding discs 28, 30 of the machine 20. The arrangement of the material at this time isshown in Fig. 6 where it will be seen that the adjacent; folds 40, 42 face upwardly, the folds beingat the same height and just barely clearing the upper surfaces of the feed discs.

As is usual in over-edge machines, there is provided a machine guide 54 associated with some stationary part.

of the machine, for instance, the center mounting of the inner fixed feed disc 30. The purpose of said guide is to assist the. operator in locating the adjacent folds 40, 42 at a predetermined height above the upper surfaces of the feed discs. Various types of guides 54 are available and I have shown the simplest which consists merely of a rigid bar extending horizontally across and slightly above the .upper surfaces of the feed discs, the bar being located, as best is seen in Fig. 2, a short distance, on thefeed side, ahead of the point of tangency of the two feed discs. feed of the material through the machine 20.

The horizontal needle 32 of the machine (see Fig. 7) pierces the material 38 just above the top surfaces of the feed discs and the adjacent folds 40, .42 are located in the machine, as with the aid of the guide 54, so that they are just above the needle 32. Preferably, the folds are a very short distance above the needle, e.g., of an inch, it being desirable to have the folds so disposed that the needle passes only through the material at the folds and does not penetrate the undersurface of the material when thick material is sewn. However, my invention is fully carried out even when the undersurface is penetrated and, indeed, this customarily is done where the material of the box pleat is thin.

In Fig. 4, I have shown a conventional type of stitching 56 which is formed in an over-edge machine, but which is uniquely applied to the material 38. Said stitch isa US. Standard TypeSOS stitch. In the conventional use of an over-edge stitching machine, one penetrating thread pierces the material below the material edge and at least one whipping thread catches the penetrating thread on opposite sides of the material and crosses over the .exposed edge-.of said material so as to closely confine, i. e., bind, said edge. However, when using the machine in accordance. t with,v my. invention, the whipping thread or thread s, wh h formerly closely confinedthe The arrow A in Fig. 2 indicates the direction of.

cl w A outer edge now is loose, this being due in the main to the close positioning of the penetrating thread and the adjacent folds 40,42 and the effect being increased, if desired, by the setting of the chaining off finger and the decrease of tension on the threads.

Thus, referring to Fig. 4, the reference numeral 58 denotes one of the three threads which have been sewn into the material 38 by a machine 20.. For clarity, this particular thread has been cross-lined so that it may be distinguished from the other threads 60, .62. The thread 60 has been left black and the thread 62 has been whitened. The thread 58 is the penetrating thread and the threads 60, 62 are the whipping threads. It will be observed that the penetrating thread is just slightly, about 3&2 of an inch, below the adjacent folds 40, 42. It also will be observed that the whipping threads and portions of the penetrating thread which. cross over and above the adjacent folds are spaced from said adjacent folds thereby leaving the stitching somewhat loose so that after stitching there is play between the adjacent folds 40, 42 which not only permits them to be slightly spread apart, but also allows them to be turned with respect to one another back to their original pleated positions. The space between the upper reaches of the whipping threads and the penetrating thread on the one hand and the adjacent folds 40, 42 on the other, can quite clearly be seen in Figs. 4 and 7. The looseness of the stitching is somewhat exaggeratedly illustrated in Fig. 2.

During the stitching all of the folds 40, 42, 44 and 46 have been preserved due to the pre-creasing performed by the pleating operation so that after the stitching has been completed in the manner described above, the four folds of the box tuck can be rearranged with respect to one another in their initial condition as shown in Fig. 8 with the exception, of course, that now the stitching 56 joins the adjacent folds 40, 42. As has been mentioned hereinabove, the stitching 56 is quite loose and this permits the folds 40, 42 to be turned from the positions illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 in which they were located during the stitching to the positions illustrated in Fig. 8 which they occupy in the finished garment. In this latter position, the whipping threads are further from the hidden panel than the piercing portion of the penetrating thread.

It will be clear that in the formation of the stitch 56, an operator simply has to so orient the material 38 that the adjacent folds 40, 42 are a slight distance above the feeding discs, this being expedited by'the guide 54 so that even an operator with very little skill and very little training is able to have the stiching 56 run through the two folds 40, 42 at the same locations on both folds. Neither one of these adjacent folds is hidden as it has been heretofore in the seaming of box tucks and, therefore, control is exercised in a practically efiortless manner. In addition since the material of both adjacent folds is positively engaged by the feeding discs, a condition which did not prevail heretofore, in the finished box tuck no shift has taken place between said folds. Furthermore, because the stitch 56 is relatively loose, there is no puckering of the material at the adjacent folds. Indeed, the slight relative permissible movement which is provided between the two adjacent folds 40, 42 by the looseness of the stitching in the box tuck allows the pleated material to yield somewhat and thereby improves the fit, appearance, and comfort of a garment. Moreover, it readily will be appreciated that inasmuch as the operator simply is stitching two adjacent folds 40, 42 located at a common level, she is able to make a tapered or straight box tuck with equal ease thereby experiencing no difference in the stitching regardless of which type of tuck is being made.

It thus will be seen that I have provided box tucks and a method of making the same which achieve the various objects of my invention and are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made in the above invention and as various changes inight be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A method of making a box tuck including a pair of adjacent folds facing one another, a pair of spaced folds facing away from one another, and a central panel between the spaced folds, all of said folds'and said panel comprising a continuous piece of materiaL'said method including preforming the adjacent and spaced folds, arranging said material with the adjacent folds alongside one another and facing in the same direction and with the central panel located away from the adjacent folds, loosely stitching the adjacent folds together, which includes the steps of feeding the material into an over-edge two-disc sewing machine with the adjacent folds slightly above the discs, passing a penetrating thread only through said adjacent folds and interlocking with the penetrating thread at least one whipping thread, and thereafter rearranging the material so that the adjacent folds face one another.

2. In a method of making a box tuck including a pair of adjacent folds facing one another, a pair of spaced folds facing away from one another, and a central panel between the spaced folds, all of said folds and said panel comprising a continuous piece of material, in an overedge stitching machine utilizing a penetrating thread and at least one whipping thread, and in which method A the material has the adjacent and spaced folds preformed therein: that improvement comprising the steps of arranging the material with the adjacent folds alongside one another and facing in the same direction and with the central panel located away from the adjacent folds, and loosely stitching the adjacent folds together, which includes the steps of feeding the material so arranged into said machine with the adjacent folds slightly above the level of the penetrating thread and With-the whipping thread slightly above and spaced from the adjacent folds, passing a penetrating thread only through said adjacent folds and interlocking the whipping thread with the penetrating thread, and thereafter rearranging the material so that the adjacent folds face one another.

3. A box tuck comprising a first ply, a second ply coplanar with said first ply, a third ply, a fourth ply coplanar with said third ply, a fifth ply, the plane of said third and fourth plies being located immediately adjacent the plane of the first and second plies, the plane of the fifth ply being located immediately adjacent the plane of the third and fourth plies and on the opposite side thereof from the plane of the first and second plies, a first fold joining an edge of the first ply to an edge of the third ply, a second fold joining an edge of the second ply to an edge of the fourth ply, a third fold joining an opposite edge of the third ply to an edge of the fifth ply, a fourth fold joining the opposite edge of the fourth ply to the opposite edge of the fifth ply, the first and second folds being adjacent and facing away from one another, the third and fourth folds being remote from and facing toward one another, the fifth ply covering the third and fourth plies whereby the fifth ply joins the third and fourth folds and covers the space between the first and second plies, all of said plies and all of said folds comprising a continuous piece of material, a loose overedge running stitch having ,a first reach extending through the first and third plies adjaextending through the second and fourth plies adjacent and in back of the second fold, and a fourth reach lying on the side of the first and second plies opposite 7 the second reach, the second and" fourth" reaches cross ing' over the space between the first and second folds; said looseoveredge' stitch providing for'yieldability' of the box tuck.

4. A box tuck as set forth in claim 3 wherein the overedge' stitch includes-a penetrating thread and a whipping thread, wherein the penetrating thread constitutes at least the first or thirdreach and wherein the whipping thread constitutes at least the fourth reach.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 274,736 Detrick Mar. 27, 1883 8 s Arnold" Janet-7f, 19 0 2 fl Mendelson Aug; 27,-,1918 Oppenheimer Sept. 28; 192 0; Moulton Feb; 23, 1926'; Rehor Noy; 7, 19,39" Schweda -et'al.-. Aug. 21', 1956 OTHER REFERENCES Federal Std. StocktCatalogue, page 17', receiiled in the US. Patent Office January 16, 1936. 

